Continuing the discussion from Growing Ataulfo mangos from seed:
A hot, dry summer and attempts to graft got the better of many of my mango seedlings last year so I’m starting some new ones again. The previous method of cutting the seed free from the husks and first germinating in small containers lined with moist paper towels prior to planting worked really well so I’ll be using the same method. I’ve got a mix of various seeds (ataulfo, Tommy Adkins, etc) from supermarket fruit.
I tried germinating a few over the winter on a heat mat planted in a loose mix and that also worked fairly well but the cooler outdoor weather didn’t allow for great growth once they were potted up. Now that it’s getting much warmer, they are starting to put out some good growth though.
I think some may be ready to graft by the summer and I’ll try again on the previous seedlings. The ones that survived from the previous years are really starting to thrive now and are putting on a nice flush of growth.
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How did those seeds turn out this summer? Would love an update!
I started a batch this summer, too, with the goal of finding a variety that does better in my too-cold greenhouse than my existing sluggish ataulfo seedling. Goal would be for one of them to be a rootstock eventually. They are flushing pretty impressively considering it’s been in the 30s and 40s most nights in the greenhouse recently:
They are a mix of about a dozen varieties. This monoembryonic Bombay seedling is one of the better-growing so far:
I’ll probably just give away all but one or two (might ingraft to make a double rootstock out of the two most vigorous), so if anyone in the Seattle area wants a few mango seedlings, let me know. About half of them were polyembryonic but I’ve no clue which of the seedlings from those are nucellar vs zygotic. I’ll be potting up or giving them away in early spring probably.
Here’s my third year in-ground (in the greenhouse) ataulfo seedling, which did not flush at all this year and was somewhat attacked by spider mites this summer:
I’ll probably pull that out next summer if it doesn’t start growing again by then.
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I’ve gotten nice growth this summer. I experimented with starting some seeds indoors during the winter and moving them out once it warmed up and then I started some seeds later in spring outdoors. My hope was to get an early start with the winter sown seeds and then have them ready to graft but it was more trouble than it was worth and by mid-summer, I found that the spring sown seeds were just as large. Quite a few look to be about as large as your 3rd year ataulfo seedling. I don’t think I’ll try starting early again. My grafting was not very successful but I think I’ve learned some things that I was doing wrong and hope to have better success next year. I did have a successful Lemon Zest graft though.
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I’m learning there’s some definite variation in hardiness for continuous cold-but-not-freezing temperatures and high humidity. Some of my mango seedlings look very diseased, others still look OK and are still pushing flushes. They’ve all been kept in the same conditions.
Here’s what the greenhouse temperatures have been like over the last month:
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What kind of potting mix do you use for mangos.
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